This next unit was an unplanned, slightly impulsive purchase. I happened on this unit and quickly concluded I just had to try it out.

This is a setup similar to the solostove design, but with a few key differences. Above the burn chamber they placed an aperture with about a 3/4 inch hole in the middle, surrounded by a clear glass cylinder in a lantern style frame, with another aperture on top of that. The idea is to load the burn chamber with biomass (wood, duff, pellets, etc), ignite it, put the lantern section on it, and the resulting secondary combustion of gases creates a luminescent flame that can also be used to cook with.

For my little test, I used a 2 liter pot and wood pellets for the fuel source. I loaded the burn chamber about half full, and tried using newsprint to get it going. Newsprint is a bad idea. As it burns, it does not disintegrate inside the camber, and ends up smothering the fire out. I ended up with a smoldering mass that then took considerable drafting to get going. Even then, it was not going like expected. I ended up starting over and using a proper waxy tinder to initiate the fire. Lesson learned.

With the second attempt, I found that once the fire got going, it put out a reasonably bright column of flame that extended up through the lantern section and out the top. Virtually no smoke or soot after the fire got established. It took more than half of a burn chamber full of pellets to get 2 liters of water to a rolling boil, and that meant dumpting out the remnant embers from the second burn and refilling a third time. Loading the burn chamber to the top fill mark is necessary for boiling that much water. As for the light generated, I would compare it to a typical oil lantern by about double the amount of light. It is a nice glow, plenty to light up a campsite at night enough to get around, maybe enough to read by if you sit close, like at a picnic table with the lantern in the middle. It also makes a fair amount of radiant heat. The design is such that the glass cylinder never sooted up, which was a pleasant surprise. I expected once I sat the pot on top of the lantern, it would inhibit the draft enough to affect the burning efficiency and result in soot developing in the lantern section.

To make sure, I tried the lantern with plain wood scraps from the backyard just to see if it would make a comparable amount of light. Once the fire got going, the flames licked out the top of the lantern section just as before, though the fire did not last as long (I didn't load the chamber with that much wood scrap).

I like multi-taskers, and this unit is made just for that. I estimate that a full chamber would last 20 minutes to half an hour, depending on the material being burned. It has a base attached to the bottom of the burn chamber that will help keep it quite stable; I wish the solostoves had such a base. As with the solostove design, the fuel must be burned from the top down. If you pile more fuel on top of what is already burning in the chamber, it will smoke and soot for a while until the new fuel is fully involved.

Due to the flame coming out the top, there is no provision for hanging this lantern. Rather it is best used as a tabletop light source. Watching the woodgas flames lazily flowing up from the burn chamber is literally hypnotizing. The ambience from this little unit is unparalleled. While not nearly as bright as a gas lantern, it is far better than candles, and an improvement on the usual oil wick lamp, except for burn time. But try boiling two liters of water on top of a Dietz lamp.

Questions? There are videos on Youtube for this unit.

Excellent review, thanks!

Probably a dumb question but would it work on dried corn kernels?
-Blast

It should work after all "corn stoves" are just pellet stoves with an ash stirrer (clinkers)

Also, corn kernels are sufficiently chunky for TLUD's (: size exceeding 4mm ...

I would think any combustible material that would off-gas enough to sustain the flame should work. But I have no experience burning corn (other than popcorn in the microwave).